Roland MKS-70 & MPG-70 Controller | The Perfect Match!

Published on Feb 13, 2020 Espen Kraft

"Using the last of the Roland monster analog synths from 1986, the MKS-70 and the Super JX (JX-10) can be tedious when it comes to editing. Even with the original PG-800 controller from Roland.
But with a Vecoven Firmware chip V.3 and the MPG-70 controller from Retroaktiv, things goes a lot faster and smoother."

Some details on the Vecoven mod:

"New features

In a nutshell, the rewrite provides :

New midi implementation
each parameter is now OFF/RECV/SEND/ON, allowing fine control of what gets sent and what is filtered.

sysex support : allow edition of patch, tone A and tone B individually. (No need for M64 cartridge)

midi cc support : allow edition of all tone parameters (each tone separately or both tones) with midi cc.

fast bulk dump/load : 4-5 seconds to dump everything. Can dump to/from cartridge and internal memory.

edition of parameters (patch and tones) sends sysex, so all editions can be sequenced. PG800 is also supported here, so editions made from the PG800 can also be sequenced.

copy from/to cartridge to create a full backup of the internal memory (all settings are now copied to the cartridge or restored from it)

Controls C1 and C2 enhancements

any tone parameter (from tone-A, tone-B or both at the same time) can be assigned to C1 or C2

any arpeggiator parameter can be assigned to C1 or C2

C1 and C2 can be used, in tone edit mode, to modify upper/lower tone parameter. This allows quick editing of tones for those who don’t have a PG800.

Arpeggiator (JX10 and now MKS70)

8 arpeggiators “patches”

internal or external synchronization

supports up, down up/down, played and random notes ordering

various arpeggio types

velocity setting (fixed or played)

note duration (1-15 or legato)

use lower split point to control which notes are arpeggiated

Demo on youtube (beta version) [posted here]

PG800 and mini-PG800 support

New display options

control whether updates from sysex, pg800 or controllers are displayed temporarily on-screen

Compatibility mode
allows to disable new features for full compatibility with old software (for example, sysex changes made to tone A can be redirected to the currently selected tone, etc...)

Test modes
test hardware controllers (voices, A/D controllers (aftertouch, bender, C1/C2), keyboard)
test memory chips

For MKS70 owners, please note that the MONO mode (one voice per midi channel) is NOT SUPPORTED in this release."